Occasionally, tears in tissue can allow gas to enter the body through the initial trauma site. As a gas-filled space expands or contracts, it can cause damage to the local tissue. The damage is due to shear or overstretching of tissues. There will be a LOT of articles as this is a VERY common problem.Barotrauma is physical tissue damage caused by a pressure difference between an unvented space inside the body and surrounding gas or fluid. You have not indicated dizziness or vertigo so the probability of damage to the inner ear is not too likely. If unsure or you get 'sick' see an ENT pronto. Stay out of the water until entirely healed and symptoms are either gone or completely stabilized. No way to predict for sure how long this can take. You can get an audiologist to follow and track your damage/healing, but they won't be able to actually do anything about it. It's not uncommon for physicians unfamiliar with this problem to Rx antibiotics. NOTE - antibiotics are NOT needed, and NOT called for an uncomplicated middle ear barotrauma unless you get an infection. This is your body healing, the physicians can't help other than a prednisone Rx (reduces inflammation and helps drain the crud), or antibiotics if you get a secondary infection. What the outcome will be long term you simply have to wait and see. Too late to drain it now and not a great option unless you have some compelling reason. The longer you wait, the less useful it is. Take oral steroids to help get through this.This option would have been best if started immediately. But they may go hand-in-hand with each other.Īs long as your aren't 'sick' (secondary infection), pretty much the only 2 things you can do:Ģ. I'm quite nervous, and would appreciate any feedback or response from anyone who has had a similar experience! I'm more worried about the tinnitus to be honest, than the middle ear. I'm just curious if this has happened to anyone else? And how long it took your ear to heal and to become fully "clear" again? Are we talking days, weeks, or months? Did you take steroids (predisolone or prednisone?) or have your ear drained by an otologist or ENT? Curious of how long I should expect this whole process to last and to heal? There was obviously middle ear, and perhaps inner ear, batrotrauma (although I didn't experience any vertigo thankfully). My ear feels slightly better, but still doesn't feel "clear" and my tinnitus hasn't really "quieted" down much since. He said my left ear was "full of blood" but should recover on its own with time. I immediately stopped diving and went to see a doctor on the island. After the dive, my ear felt "full" and I had ringing/tinnitus in my left ear (backstory: I actually already had chronic tinnitus before the dive from a few years ago, but it was barely noticeable and this seemed to have loudly "re-awakened" the tinnitus). I supposed I was able to equalize a bit, since I made it to 70 feet (but definitely painful). Instead of immediately aborting the dive (I was overexcited by being back in the water again), I made the rookie mistake of continuing to force myself down. I was diving in Barbados last week (going for my Master Diver certification) and was having trouble equalizing in my left ear. Hello community, I am a 30 year old diver in excellent health, from New York City.
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